Tmux cheat sheet

(C-x means ctrl+x, M-x means alt+x)
Prefix key

The default prefix is C-b. If you (or your muscle memory) prefer C-a, you need to add this to ~/.tmux.conf:

Remap prefix to Control + a

set -g prefix C-a


Bind ‘C-a C-a’ to type ‘C-a’

bind C-a send-prefix
unbind C-b


I’m going to assume that C-a is your prefix.

Sessions, Windows and Panes
Session is a set of windows, plus a notion of which window is current.
Window is a single screen covered with panes. (Once might compare it to a ‘virtual desktop’ or a ‘space’.)
Pane is a rectangular part of a window that runs a specific command, e.g. a shell.
Getting help

Display a list of keyboard shortcuts:

C-a ?


Navigate using Vim or Emacs shortcuts, depending on the value of mode-keys. Emacs is the default, and if you want Vim shortcuts for help and copy modes (e.g. j, k, C-u, C-d), add the following line to ~/.tmux.conf:


setw -g mode-keys vi


Any command mentioned in this list can be executed as tmux something or C-a :something (or added to ~/.tmux.conf).
Managing sessions

Creating a session:

tmux new -s work


Create a new session that shares all windows with an existing session, but has its own separate notion of which window is current:

tmux new-session -s work2 -t work


Attach to a session:

tmux attach -t work

Detach from a session:

C-a d.


Switch between sessions:

C-a ( previous session
C-a ) next session
C-a L ‘last’ (previously used) session
C-a s choose a session from a list


Other:

C-a $ rename the current session
C-a


Managing windows

Create a window:

C-a c create a new window

Switch between windows:

C-a 1 ... switch to window 1, ..., 9, 0
C-a 9
C-a 0
C-a p previous window
C-a n next window
C-a l ‘last’ (previously used) window
C-a w choose window from a list


Switch between windows with a twist:

C-a M-n next window with a bell, activity or
content alert
C-a M-p previous such window


Other:


C-a , rename the current window
C-a & kill the current window


Managing split panes

Creating a new pane by splitting an existing one:

C-a " split vertically (top/bottom)
C-a % split horizontally (left/right)


Switching between panes:

C-a left go to the next pane on the left
C-a right (or one of these other directions)
C-a up
C-a down
C-a o go to the next pane (cycle through all of them)
C-a ; go to the ‘last’ (previously used) pane


Moving panes around:

C-a { move the current pane to the previous position
C-a } move the current pane to the next position
C-a C-o rotate window ‘up’ (i.e. move all panes)
C-a M-o rotate window ‘down’
C-a ! move the current pane into a new separate
window (‘break pane’)
C-a :move-pane -t :3.2
split window 3's pane 2 and move the current pane there


Resizing panes:


C-a M-up, C-a M-down, C-a M-left, C-a M-right
resize by 5 rows/columns
C-a C-up, C-a C-down, C-a C-left, C-a C-right
resize by 1 row/column


Applying predefined layouts:

C-a M-1 switch to even-horizontal layout
C-a M-2 switch to even-vertical layout
C-a M-3 switch to main-horizontal layout
C-a M-4 switch to main-vertical layout
C-a M-5 switch to tiled layout
C-a space switch to the next layout

Other:

C-a x kill the current pane
C-a q display pane numbers for a short while


Other config file settings

Force a reload of the config file on C-a r:

unbind r
bind r source-file ~/.tmux.conf

Some other settings that I use:

setw -g xterm-keys on


If you have vi style key bindings on then the following applies:
1) enter copy mode using Control+b [

2) navigate to beginning of text, you want to select and hit Space

3) move around using arrow keys to select region

4) when you reach end of region simply hit Enter to copy the region

5) now Control+b ] will paste the selection
To enable vi like cursor movement in copy mode put the following in your ~/.tmux.conf:

set-window-option -g mode-keys vi

more over what ever you copy, you may dump that out in your terminal using

tmux show-buffer

and even save to a file(say, foo.txt) using

tmux save-buffer foo.txt

To see all the paste buffers try Control + b #. To dump out the varios buffers on to the terminal or file you may use


tmux list-buffers
tmux show-buffer -b n
tmux save-buffer -b n foo.txt


where n is the index of the paste buffer.